Brand codes project
Being recognisably Australian in marketing and communications isn’t as easy as you might imagine. While we here in Australia are good at recognising our own country, would-be visitors still struggle. The fact is that our competitors also have lots of similar experiences like white sandy beaches, majestic forests, delicious food and wine etc. It’s important that we give international travellers the visual short cuts that make our communications instantly recognisable to them.
How to read the Distinctive Asset matrix
- The matrix runs along two axes:
- The X axis (horizontal) considers “positive association”, ie: this is something I like;
- The Y axis (vertical) considers the “correct association to Australia”, ie: this is Australian;
- The research was conducted in 2020, considers 13 international markets and Australia with a total sample of 10,343 respondents;
- Tourism Australia considered a range of classic and modern Australian icons in the surveys construction, clustered into 6 categories:
- Famous People; Animals; Icons; Landmarks; Sport; Phrases/Sounds; Landscapes.
- The matrix is divided up into four quadrants:
- Top left: “Consider” icons that are famously Australian that are a little less positive;
- If an icon is in this quadrant, education around the icon is needed;
- Bottom left: “Review” icons are a little unknown and need traveller education around them;
- Top right: “Use” icons that are recognizably Australian and are positively well understood;
- Bottom right: “ Build” icons that are well understood in a positive light, but a little unknown.
- The X axis (horizontal) considers “positive association”, ie: this is something I like;
- The Y axis (vertical) considers the “correct association to Australia”, ie: this is Australian;
- Famous People; Animals; Icons; Landmarks; Sport; Phrases/Sounds; Landscapes.
- Top left: “Consider” icons that are famously Australian that are a little less positive;
- If an icon is in this quadrant, education around the icon is needed;
- Bottom left: “Review” icons are a little unknown and need traveller education around them;
- Top right: “Use” icons that are recognizably Australian and are positively well understood;
- Bottom right: “ Build” icons that are well understood in a positive light, but a little unknown.
Worth noting:
- That either through increased promotion or further education (or both) all icons can move into the “use” quadrant;
- All icons had their names written on them, this did assist in some icons having greater fame recognition or association to Australia;
- Some elements of fame are more time specific than others, such as celebrity. This was not taken into account in the methodology of the study.
